A 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle rookie card sold for a hefty price tag at Heritage Auctions. From the famous Alan "Mr. Mint" Rosen find back in 1985, this copy is graded SGC 8 and brought a hammer price of $600,000!
In 1986, Alan "Mr. Mint" Rosen discovered possibly the greatest find in the hobby. A man in Quincy, Massachusetts told Rosen about well-conditioned 1952 Topps baseball cards from the high-number series. The key card in the high series is Mickey Mantle's rookie card. In 1952, Topps released their set in multiple series during the baseball season. This idea sounded like a fine marketing tool at the time. By releasing cards numbered 1-80 in "series 1" and not releasing all 407 cards simultaneously, collectors would not be able to build a complete set of cards early in the baseball season. This would keep collectors purchasing cards all season, or so Topps and distributors thought. When Fall came around, collectors were more interested in football. The forgotten sixth series, cards #311 - 407, were disposed of by being DUMPED IN THE OCEAN! Guess which player has the majority of his rookie cards lost forever in a burial at sea? Mickey Mantle at card #311. When Mr. Mint asked "how many Mantles" the seller had, the answer was 30. Wait - THIRTY Mantle rookie cards? After Mr. Mint sat down with the seller, out came a silver tray of 1952 Topps cards in pristine condition, and sure enough Rosen pulled out a stack of over 30 Mickey Mantle rookie cards.
One of the cards from the original 1986 find was just sold at Heritage Auctions for $600,000! You can see the exact card HERE.
The Mantle cards from the Rosen find are some of, if not THE most valuable cards in the world. An SGC graded 9.5 Mickey Mantle rookie card from the same find is currently the record holder for most valuable card at 12.6 million dollars. Our owner, Leighton, had the chance to hold the 12.6-million dollar Mantle at the National last Summer:
If you have a Mickey Mantle rookie card, Just Collect IS buying! We have purchased multiple Mantle rookie cards individually and as part of a collection. The Black Box Collection had a Mickey Mantle rookie as part of a complete set of 1952 Topps cards among many vintage complete sets! We also purchased Grandpa's Shoebox Collection from Canada where a Mantle rookie was stored with jars of pickles!
Just Collect is always buying vintage sports and non-sports cards from 1879 to 1979 as well as select modern cards. If you have a collection that you are considering selling, contact us today to discuss or get our industry-leading purchase offer. If you have a collection that you want to be appraised, please contact us and we would be happy to discuss your collection and help you understand the real cash value of your collection in the current marketplace. Check out the Just Collect Buy List.
We always offer a FREE APPRAISAL for your collection here at the Just Collect site. Just click here:
We offer many ways to evaluate your cards other than using our website, too.
If you can make the trip here like the son from my hometown did for this collection- we can make a deal at the office. We once met a father-son duo that drove eight hours from Virginia to meet us to sell a Michael Jordan rookie card stored in Tupperware since 1986 - great read here.
We keep a LIST of the card shows we'll be attending. Come stop by the Just Collect table and chat.
If you have a valuable collection and want us to come to you, we'll hop on the next plane out. We recently took a trip to California to purchase a collection that included three Jackie Robinson 1948 Leaf rookie cards that you can read about here.
We have another location in New York you can meet us at; read all the information here.
If you choose to mail your cards for an appraisal, we will evaluate your cards for FREE still. If you choose not to sell the cards, we'll ship them back with shipping fees paid by us! We can offer our FedEx account with 2-day shipping, fully insured, all covered by us. Simply contact the office to set up this option.
We've run into a wide range of people and collections over the last 25 years. Although Just Collect is known for buying vintage sports cards and especially vintage baseball cards, we are also extremely interested in buying non-sports cards, too!
Every collection and every collector is different and we treat EVERY collection with the respect and attention that we show for our own collections. We understand that many have put their heart and souls into building their collections. So when you're ready to sell, we understand the feelings that you're going through and will work with you to help you reach a decision that is a WIN/WIN, because if you're not happy, we're not happy.
Whether you have vintage cards or modern wax you want to sell, you can reach out to us any time!